Seopyeonje

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Audience Member As a wonderful recreation to its deep-rooted tradition, the filmmakers put up some well crafted story-telling to accompany the traditional music of Korea without leaving the purpose to entertain the audience's heart and mind. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member A sorrowful gaze deep into the heart of Korean culture, this film centers on a traveling minstrel who tries in vain to preserve Korean folk music against Japanese and Western music. His struggle and his hubris reflect Korea's larger strife over the last 150 years with Japanese and Western influences. Korean viewers often say this movie captures the essence of the Korean "han". Han reflects many Korean's world-view and sense of nationhood and is sometimes described as a painful longing. Han can be summed up from one Korean literary source* as "the five-thousand-year-old, jade-like spirit of the race, imbued with the proudly lonely life-breath of the world's cleanest, most civilized people." This might come across as the xenophobia or even racial superiority dogma, but it's a part of Korean culture born from Korea's historic isolation and defense against foreign invaders. *This was a quote I read in "A Pure Race in an Impure World: How North Koreans See Themselves," published in the National Post on May 10, 2010 and written by Bradley K. Martin. The quote itself was from a Korean source found by B.R. Myers and used in his book "The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters". Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Im Kwon-Taek has this innate sense of frame balancing and movement that is alarmingly absorbing. The first act does such a great job of displaying his talents that it even makes up for the occasional exposition or two. Unfortunately, the second act seems to lack the same focus and drags at times, though the acting is usually still spot on. Perhaps this lapse of reason and time is necessary for the film's powerful closure, one that at least questions the value of Korean culture amidst its growing postmodernity. I think the topic is an important one for Korean people in general given how proud they should be of their country's ability to withstand its tempestuous times throughout the 20th century. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Im Kwon-Taek has this innate sense of frame balancing and movement that is alarmingly absorbing. The first act does such a great job of displaying his talents that it even makes up for the occasional exposition or two. Unfortunately, the second act seems to lack the same focus and drags at times, though the acting is usually still spot on. Perhaps this lapse of reason and time is necessary for the film's powerful closure, one that at least questions the value of Korean culture amidst its growing postmodernity. I think the topic is an important one for Korean people in general given how proud they should be of their country's ability to withstand its tempestuous times throughout the 20th century. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Add a review (optional)... Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Seopyeonje

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